RIJSWIJK, 27/10/00 - The father of Maxima, Jorge Zorreguieta, is not prepared to repudiate his active role in the last dictatorship of Argentina. The Argentinean weekly Noticias reported this in its latest edition.

Jorge Zorreguieta was state secretary and later minister of Agriculture during the dictatorship of General Videla in the eighties. Thousands of people "disappeared" under this regime. This caused a heated discussion several months ago on whether his daughter Maxima, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander's girlfriend, would be acceptable as a future Queen.

Zorreguieta does not seem willing to give way in the slightest to the criticism from the Netherlands. "I do not repudiate my part in the Process of National Reorganization," Zorreguieta informed Noticias in reaction to the rumors. He was not prepared to comment on his daughter's private life.

The terminology used by Zorreguieta is the military designation for the dictatorship. Few people in Argentina still use this name.